Protected blade and packet



Nov. 15, 1938. J CURRIE 2,136,939

PROTECTED BLADE AND PACKET Filed Oct. 16, 1956 INVENTOR ATTOR'NEYPatented Nov. 15, 1938 2,136,939 PROTECTED BLADE AND PACKET JosephStanley Currie, Winthrop, Mass., assignor to Gillette Safety RazorCompany, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application October 16,1936, Serial No. 105,960

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the packaging of fineedged blades, such forexample as safety razor blades. In one aspect it consists in a bladeprotected completely by a novel wrapper or cover of sheet material. Inanother aspect it consists in a commercial packet of protected bladeswell adapted for purposes of distribution and from which the user mayconveniently remove a single protected blade from time to time as herequires it.

In handling safety razor blades under commercial conditions oftransportation and distribution and in the more or less casual treatmentof such blades by the user, the extremely fine, keen edge of the bladeis likely to become dulled by being brought into contact with itswrapping either at a fold vertex or, by being drawn across or cuttingthe wrapper in being removed therefrom. On this account the best andmost skillful efforts of the manufacturer in sharpening blades are oftenbrought to naught, because of the damage done to the fragile anddelicate structure of the blade edge after it has been brought to thekeenest possible shaving condition and before the shaving operation isactually undertaken.

With these conditions in view an important object of the presentinvention is to provide a novel wrapper in which the blade may beenclosed and held positively in such position that its cutting edge isprotected from contact with any fold vertex lines in the Wrapper, whileat the same time, a portion of the wrapper is made available forsecuring a number of protected blades in a stack or book. In certainaspects the present invention may be considered an improvement upon theprotected blade cover or wrapper disclosed and claimed in the co-pendingapplication of Joseph M. Bowen, Serial Number 101,281, now Patent No.2,119,983 dated June '7, 1938 and in another aspect it may be consideredan improvement upon the stack or book of protected blades disclosed andclaimed in the copending application of H. A. Gustafson, Serial Number20,623. Both the protected blade and protected blade stack of thepresent invention fall within the scope of the inventions aboveidentified.

It is an important consideration of the present invention to provide awrapper in which a blade may be enclosed and held positively againstdisplacement and for this purpose it is proposed to utilize a wrapperwith slotted end tabs arranged to interlock with the ends of the bladeas disclosed in said application, Serial Number 101,281.

be secured together.

Side flaps of novel characteristics are provided, that is to say, flapsof such construction that they not only enclose the end tabs incompleting the folding operation but also supply projecting tongues bywhich a stack of protected blades may Moreover, by perforating orscoring one or both of the tongues a single protected blade may beeasily removed from the stack when the user desires to do so by merelytearing across in the weakened area of the tongues.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which:--

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the wrapper;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the wrapper with its end tabs folded upon ablade;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the wrapper completely closed upon ablade, the latter being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of a blade packet or book showing thecover open; and

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the packet showing the cover closed.

The wrapper blank, which may be made of thin sheet material, such asoiled or waxed paper, comprises a rectangular body portion l0 scored todefine end tabs II and side flaps I 3 and I4. Each of the end tabstapers outwardly to a straight end edge and is provided at anintermediate point with a transverse slot [2. These slots are locatedwithout or beyond the scored fold lines of the tabs and have inwardlytapering end edges. The side flaps I3 and [4 are each provided at oneend with a longitudinally extending rectangular tongue I5, the tonguesbeing so located that when the side flaps are folded inwardly on thelongitudinal scored lines the tongues will register in superposedrelation. The outer edge of each tongue l5 may be flush or continuouswith the outer edge of the corresponding side flap l3 or I4, and theinner edge of each tongue is preferably spaced substantially from thescored line which defines the inner or fold line of the side flap inwhich it is located. On this account the wrapper presents four similarreentrant angles at the juncture of the side flaps l3 and H with the endtabs l I and these angles supply convenient points at which the blankmay be engaged and positively located in the wrapping operation byspaced pins or the like, not shown. Preferably and as herein shown thetongues l5 are defined in part by recesses or notches which extend belowor within the scored line defining the adjacent end tab. This expedientinsures a straight and easy folding of the wrapper without tendency tobunch or pleat at the corners.

In the drawing there is shown for illustrative purposes a safety razorblade I6 of the Gillettetype having oppositely disposed cutting edgesand reentrant corner recesses which define in the blade elongatedunsharpened end portions IT. The blade IE, or any other shoulderedblade, may be presented to the wrapper in automatic machinery operatedby suction or otherwise to carry one blade after another from a stack inthe magazine into position in alignment with and between the slots l2 inthe upturned end'tabs l'l. While the blade is so held the end tabs arefolded simultaneously inwardly until the end portions of the blade haveentered the slots l2 therein. When this has once taken place the bladeI6 is quickly lowered upon the body In of the wrapper and simultaneouslythe end tabs H are folded inwardly. The movement is continued with atoggle action until the tabs II have been brought down into contact withthe upper face of the blade Hi. In this movement the ends I! of theblade pass fully through the slots l2 and lie in contact upon the upperface of the folded tabs, as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be seen that in this operation the end edges of the shouldersformed by the reentrant recesses in the corners of the blade are broughtinto engagement with the material of the end tabs outside the ends ofthe slits l2 and that the longitudinal edges of the shoulders in theblade are thus held positively against transverse movement.Subsequently, the side flap I4 is folded inwardly about its longitudinalfold vertex line, which is located just outside the sharpened edge ofthe blade, and then the other side flap I3 is folded about its foldvertex line, which is similarly located outside or'beyond the sharpenededge of the blade. The two tongues of vthe side flaps coincide exactlyin width and register with each other, constituting in effect a.continuation of the overlap of the two side flaps. The

wrapping operation is thus completed and the individual blades are thusfully protected against being dulled and against exposure which wouldcause rusting.

Having wrapped the individual blades as above outlined these may now beassembled in a stack within a cover sheet l8 of pasteboard or the likeand secured together and to the cover by means of a fastening device,such as a staple I9 shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The staple I9 is inserted soas to transfix the superposed tongues l5 adjacent to their outer endsand outside the scored line therein. In this way the individual wrappedand protected blades are maintained in an enclosed stack where they areentirely protected and from which they may be readily removed one by oneby tearing through the scored section. It will be understood that thetongues I5 may be weakened by perforating rather than scoring ifpreferred and that any fastening device or medium may be employedinstead of the staple herein shown.

Having thus described my invention in terms which are descriptive andnot limiting what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:-

l. A protected blade enclosed in a wrapper which has tabs folded overthe ends of the blades, and side flaps each defined by a longitudinalfold line and each having a flat tongue in one edge set off by a recesslocated outside the fold line of the flap.

2. A packet of protected blades, each enclosed in a wrapper which hasend tabs and side flaps with tongues of reduced width on one end of eachflap, the tongues projecting in superposed relation and being united tohold the blades in a stack.

3. A packet of protected blades, each enclosed in a wrapper which hasfolded end tabs and overlapping relatively narrow side flaps, each sideflap being provided with a tongue of a width substantially equal to theoverlap of the two flaps and extending in straight condition beyond thefold line of the end tabs in a transfixed stack.

JOSEPH S. CURRIE.

